EXCLUSIVE: Rose McGowan Making Second Trip to Afghanistan

Rose McGowan is preparing to embark on her second USO tour visiting U.S. troops in Afghanistan. And while the “Grindhouse” star was a big hit on hertrip last year, she said it has nothing to do with her star power.

“The last time I was in Afghanistan, it was my favorite trip I've ever had, and I've had some amazing trips in my life. But it's bizarre to me that it would make anyone happy that I'm there. But I think I represent home. That's all, it’s not about me,” McGowan told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column at the “Do Something” Awards Show in Los Angeles over the weekend. “They get really sad and forget because they feel like people have forgotten them, so I'm just a representative, a vessel, showing that people are thinking of them."

McGowan, also a long-standing champion for gay marriage, is urging fellow Americans to keep pushing for the federal legalization of gay marriage ahead of next year’s election.

“It should be across the board. It's really absurd that it's not a right and the idea that it takes away from people's sanctity of marriage, I think we should just watch 'Jerry Springer' and see how those people feel about the sanctity about their marriage,” she continued. “If people rise up, the government follows. You have to put pressure on your local representatives, your city council, then your congressmen, then your senators. You have to understand all this is a phone call away, even an email away, and they really respond to that.”

And away from personal views and onto professional ones, two years ago the screen star revealed to this column that her highly-anticipated role as the sward-swiping comic character “Red Sonja” was on hold due to serious injury, McGowan made it clear she won’t be butt-kicking her way back to the set.

“I had three arm surgeries, and if I hurt myself again, I'll be paralyzed,” she added. “So it's not worth it.”

- Deidre Behar contributed to this report.

Hollie McKay has been a FoxNews.com staff reporter since 2007. She has reported extensively from the Middle East on the rise and fall of terrorist groups such as ISIS in Iraq. Follow her on twitter at @holliesmckay